This story was originally produced by Foster's Daily Democrat. NHPR is republishing it in partnership with the Granite State News Collaborative.
Just one day after the Rochester Planning Board reluctantly endorsed a proposed zoning ordinance to regulate data centers, residents packed a City Council meeting Tuesday night to voice opposition to allowing the facilities in the city.
The ordinance, which does not outright ban data centers, attempts to limit them to an area that city officials believe would discourage development. The council is scheduled to vote on the ordinance at its Sept. 1 meeting.
At the council meeting on Aug. 18, residents packed the room and spoke for almost two hours, letting the council know they are relying on the city to do all it can to protect them from data centers. There is no data center proposal currently before the city. Mayor Chuck Grassie said because the city cannot outright ban data centers, he wants to do everything he can to discourage anyone from locating one in Rochester.
At its meeting on Aug. 17, Planning Board Chair Mark Collopy said he would like a chance to learn more about where the city would place a data center, to learn what data centers really are, and to look deeper into some of the fears surrounding their uses.
Read more of this story at Seacoastonline.
